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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
GM Core / Chapter 5: Treasure Trove / Trappings of Power

Staves

Source GM Core pg. 278 2.0
A magical staff is an indispensable accessory for a spellcaster. A staff is tied to a person during a preparation process, after which the preparer, and only the preparer, can use the staff to produce magic. The spells that can be cast from a staff are listed in bullet points organized by rank. Staves can be found in multiple types, with more powerful types containing more spells—such a staff always contains the spells of all lower-level types of the staff, in addition to the spells listed in its own entry. All magical staves have the staff trait.

Click here for the Staves category page.

Casting Spells from a Staff

Source GM Core pg. 278 2.0
A staff gains charges when someone prepares it for the day. The person who prepared a staff can expend the charges to cast spells from it. You can Cast a Spell from a staff only if you have that spell on your spell list, are able to cast spells of the appropriate rank or higher, and expend a number of charges from the staff equal to the spell's rank. Casting a Spell from a staff requires holding the staff (typically in one hand) and Activating the staff by Casting the Spell, which takes the spell's normal number of actions.

Use your spell attack modifier and spell DC when Casting a Spell from a staff. The spell gains the appropriate trait for your magical tradition and can be affected by any modifications you can normally make when casting spells, such as spellshape feats. You must provide any cost or locus required by the spell, or you fail to cast it.

Prepared spellcasters and spontaneous spellcasters each have a unique way of altering how their staves gain charges and the ways they can be used (see the Prepared Spellcasters and Spontaneous Spellcasters sections below).

Casting Cantrips from a Staff

Source GM Core pg. 278 2.0
You can cast a cantrip from a staff without expending any charges, heightened to the same rank as cantrips you cast.

Preparing a Staff

Source GM Core pg. 278 2.0
During your daily preparations, you can prepare a staff to add charges to it for free. When you do so, that staff gains a number of charges equal to the rank of your highest spell slot. You don’t need to expend any spells to add charges in this way. No one can prepare more than one staff per day, nor can a staff be prepared by more than one person per day. If the charges aren’t used within 24 hours, they’re lost, and preparing the staff anew removes any charges previously stored in it. You can prepare a staff only if you have at least one of the staff’s spells on your spell list.

Prepared Spellcasters

Source GM Core pg. 278 2.0
A prepared spellcaster—such as a cleric, druid, witch, or wizard—can place some of their own magic in a staff to increase its number of charges. When a prepared spellcaster prepares a staff, they can expend a spell slot to add a number of charges equal to the rank of the spell. They can’t expend more than one spell in this way each day. For example, if a wizard can cast 3rd-rank spells and prepared a staff, the staff would gain 3 charges, but wizard could increase this to 6 by expending one of their 3rd-rank spells, 5 by expending a 2nd-rank spell, or 4 by expending a 1st-rank spell.

Spontaneous Spellcasters

Source GM Core pg. 278 2.0
A spontaneous spellcaster—such as a bard, oracle, or sorcerer—can reduce the number of charges it takes to Activate a staff by supplementing it with their own energy. When a spontaneous spellcaster Activates a staff, they can expend 1 charge from the staff and one of their spell slots to cast a spell from the staff of the same rank (or lower) as the expended spell slot. This doesn’t change the number of actions it takes to cast the spell. For example, if a sorcerer can cast 3rd-rank spells and prepared a staff, the staff would gain 3 charges. They could expend 1 charge and one of their 3rd-rank spell slots to cast a 3rd-rank spell from the staff, or 1 charge and one of their 2nd-rank spell slots to cast a 2nd-rank spell from the staff. They could still expend 3 charges from the staff to cast a 3rd-rank spell from it without using any of their own slots, just like any other spellcaster.

Attacking with a Staff

Source GM Core pg. 278 2.0
Staves are also staff weapons. They can be etched with fundamental runes but not property runes.